Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced that women will be allowed to drive for the first time in the ultra-conservative kingdom, fulfilling a key demand of women's rights activists who faced detention for defying the ban.

The Paris council voted on Monday to remove the sign “To the Happy Negro” (“Au Nègre Joyeux”) from the city’s former chocolate factory of the same name, after the Communists in the council branded the façade an “insulting and offensive presence”.

One of the most prominent figures in the nationalist Alternative for Germany said Tuesday she plans to leave the party, even as other lawmakers from the anti-migrant party held their first meeting after a strong showing at the polls.

In a landmark exhibition, the Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris is showcasing works, frescoes and scripts recounting the 2,000-year history of Christians in the Middle East – a heritage under threat in a region scarred by war and persecution.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Tuesday for a common European defence force and budget, as well as common asylum offices, border police, financial transaction tax and carbon tax, in a wide-ranging speech setting out his vision for Europe.

Police have charged Rwandan opposition leader Diane Rwigara, who was detained at the weekend along with her mother and sister, with "offenses to state security and forgery," according to a statement issued Monday.

Iraqi Kurds voted Monday in a landmark referendum on supporting independence, a move billed by the Kurdish leadership as an exercise in self-determination but viewed as a hostile act by Iraq's central government.